THIS WEEKEND
Moviegoers once again made Star Wars Episode II:
Attack of the Clones the most popular film at the box office
over the four-day Memorial Day holiday weekend. Spider-Man
remained in second place and continued to set new industry records while
a trio of solid openings from new releases rounded out the top five. Overall,
ticket buyers spent $200M at North American multiplexes making it the highest-grossing
weekend in box office history.

Taking in $60M in its second weekend, according to final
studio figures, Episode II kept its
crown averaging a stunning $18,983 from 3,161 theaters over the Friday-to-Monday
period. Over the traditional three-day span, Clones
grossed $47.5M dropping 41% from the previous weekend's $80M haul and brought
its 12-day total to $201.3M. That made the Jedi adventure the second-fastest
film to cross the $200M mark after Spider-Man
which only took nine days earlier this month.

Despite the Jabba-size grosses, Episode II
fell short of the figures posted three years ago by Star
Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace which also had the benefit
of having the Memorial Day weekend fall on its second frame. That prequel
generated $66.9M over the holiday frame for a slimmer 21% three-day decline.
By Memorial Day, after 13 days of release, Phantom
Menace had grossed $207.1M - nearly the same amount as Episode
II coming out of the holiday frame. While Episode
II enjoyed stronger daily grosses than Episode
I during its opening weekend, it has consistently trailed Phantom
Menace's daily figures each day since last Monday. This comes
despite the fact that Clones is playing
in more theaters and enjoys higher ticket prices.

Fox's daily grosses for Attack of the Clones
include $12.7M on Friday (down 6% from Phantom
Menace's corresponding Friday), $18.45M on Saturday (off 5%),
$16.35M on Sunday (down 12%), and $12.5M on Monday (off 19%). Episode
II now sits at number 42 on the list of all-time domestic blockbusters
a notch below Armageddon ($201.6M).
Overseas, Clones has set the box office
on fire hoisting its total to $128.9M in less than two weeks bringing its
worldwide cume to $330M.

Unlike Episode I, which arrived
on the scene with 16 years of fan anticipation, Episode
II is performing more like a high-profile sequel - opening bigger,
but depreciating faster. Budgeted at an estimated $120M, Attack
of the Clones may find its domestic haul reach $350-380M.

Climbing to new heights in a record 3,876 theaters, Sony's megablockbuster
Spider-Man took home another $35.8M
over the four-day holiday span to remain in second place. The Sam Raimi-directed
super hero pic averaged $9,240 and boosted its total to a staggering $333.6M
in only 25 days putting it at number six on the all-time list of domestic
blockbusters between 1993's Jurassic Park ($357.1M)
and 1994's Forrest Gump ($329.7M).
On Friday, its 22nd day of release, Spider-Man
became the fastest movie in history to reach the $300M mark shattering
the old benchmark of 28 days set in 1999 by Star
Wars Episode I.

Sony shuffled numerous prints around this weekend moving extra ones
from multiple-auditorium venues over to new theaters allowing the playdate
total to climb from 3,615 to 3,876 while still keeping the overall print
count at approximately 7,500. Over the Friday-to-Sunday span, Spider-Man
grossed $28.5M (down 37% from last weekend) and averaged $7,353. The three-day
figure stands as the second-best fourth weekend gross in box office history
trailing Titanic's $28.7M from 2,746
theaters in January 1998. With its continued strength, Spider-Man
will have no problem smashing through the $400M barrier and could find
its way into the neighborhood of $450M domestically. Internationally, the
webslinger crossed the century mark over the weekend and continues to post
muscular bows.

Oscar winner Al Pacino enjoyed the biggest opening of his career with
the psychological thriller Insomnia,
also starring Robin Williams, which opened with $26.1M over the Friday-to-Monday
holiday frame. Directed by Memento's
Christopher Nolan, the R-rated drama entered 2,610 theaters and averaged
a terrific $9,988 over four days. The Warner Bros. release finds Pacino
playing a Los Angeles detective assigned to a murder investigation in northern
Alaska whose sleep deprivation due to the round-the-clock sun affects his
ability capture the killer, played by Williams. Praised by critics, the
$46M thriller played to an adult audience and earned a good B grade from
audiences polled by CinemaScore.com.

With Jedi knights and comic book heroes dominating the holiday box office,
Insomnia stood as the top counter-programming
alternative by appealing to mature adults with a high-caliber cast. Long-term
prospects seem promising which would be a welcome change for the studio
as recent films like Showtime, Collateral
Damage, and Queen of the Damned
all opened decently but eroded fast. After winning the market share crown
last year, Warner Bros. now ranks last among the big six studios in year-to-date
grosses but hopes to change the tide with Insomnia
and next month's summer releases Divine Secrets
of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Scooby
Doo.

Charging into fourth place with a strong start was the new animated
film from DreamWorks Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
which opened with $23.2M over the four-day session. The G-rated adventure
tale about a brave horse battling pioneers in the Old West galloped into
a whopping 3,317 theaters and averaged an impressive $6,998. Over the three-day
period, the $80M film grossed $17.7M and averaged $5,336.

The traditionally-animated drama took advantage of the lack of family
films at the holiday box office and performed especially well with young
girls as Star Wars and Spider-Man
kept boys distracted. Families made up 80% of the audience according to
Jim Tharp, distribution head of DreamWorks, and 90% of those polled rated
the film "excellent" or "very good." Ticket buyers
polled by CinemaScore.com gave Spirit
an overall A grade with kids bestowing a promising A+. The studio had an
uphill battle in bringing the ambitious toon to the marketplace as the
most successful animated pictures in recent years have been computer-animated
comedies. With good reviews and positive word-of-mouth, Spirit
will try to become the first traditionally-drawn animated film to break
the $100M mark since 1999's Tarzan.

Jennifer Lopez packed a punch in fifth place with her new domestic thriller
Enough which debuted with $17.2M over
the long holiday weekend. Playing in 2,623 locations, the PG-13 drama about
a woman who takes revenge on her abusive husband averaged $6,562 per theater
and performed best with young women. Sony's exit polling showed that 60%
of the audience was female and 55% were under 25 indicating that the film
connected with J. Lo's core fan base of teen girls and young women. Over
the Friday-to-Sunday period, the Michael Apted-directed film grossed $14M
and averaged a solid $5,337.

Budgeted at $38M, Enough also scored
good exit polls. CinemaScore.com patrons gave the film an overall A- grade
with females in particular giving it an A while studio data showed that
over 90% of those polled rated the thriller "excellent" or "very
good." The opening for Enough
was in line with the debuts of other recent films starring Lopez including
last year's The Wedding Planner ($13.5M)
and 2000's The Cell ($17.5M).

Universal added 542 theaters to the run of the Hugh Grant comedy About
A Boy and grossed $9.8M from 1,749 theaters for a four-day average
of $5,615. The three-day gross of $7.9M represented a slim 8% decline from
last weekend while the three-day average of $4,490 dropped 37% from the
previous frame. After 11 days, About A Boy
has taken in $21.8M and looks headed for $40-50M territory.

With such a diverse slate of films, the incredible breadth in the marketplace
led to a major expansion with total box office spending over the four days
reaching $200M. Five films grossed over $10M and averaged more than $5,000
each. Last year's Memorial Day weekend frame only boasted three such performers.

In its third weekend, Fox's erotic thriller Unfaithful
collected $7.6M pushing its 18-day total to $41M. The teen comedy The
New Guy followed in eighth place with $5.4M lifting the cume
for the Sony release to $24.4M in the same number of days.

Paramount's Changing Lanes, the
oldest picture in the top ten, took in $1.9M for a $64.4M total after its
seventh weekend. The Scorpion King
rounded out the top ten with $1.8M in its sixth attack boosting the cume
for the Universal film to $87.9M.

IFC Films continued to supply the independent films of choice with My
Big Fat Greek Wedding and Y Tu Mama
Tambien. Wedding grossed
$1.6M from just 260 theaters, averaging $6,116, and brought its cume to
$7.6M. Mama picked up $620,633 from
216 ($2,873 average) putting its total after 11 weekends at $11.1M.

In limited release, Miramax debuted the ensemble picture The
Importance of Being Earnest in 38 theaters and grossed $500,447
for a strong $13,170 average. Total since its Wednesday debut is $521,858.

The top ten films grossed $188.9M over four days which was up 8% from
last year when Pearl Harbor opened
at number one with $75.2M over the long weekend; and up 12% from 2000 when
Mission: Impossible 2 debuted in the
top spot with $70.8M over four days.

Take this week's NEW Reader
Survey on the opening of The Sum of All Fears.
In last week's survey, readers were asked whether Star
Wars Episode II or Spider-Man
would become the bigger megablockbuster. Of
4,324 responses, 56% said Star Wars
while 44% picked Spider-Man.

This column is updated three times each week : Thursday
(upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday
(post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday
night (actuals). Data source : Exhibitor
Relations, EDI. Opinions expressed
in this column are those solely of the author.